Timing is Everything
by MS
Summary: AU, SxS. Sakura is analizing her relationship with her tutor, Syoaran, in one of their study sessions. Is there something beneath the smiles and blushes? She hopes so. Follows Time Management. Oneshot...


MS 

This is a sequel one-shot to Time Management, as I was asked for some kind of following. I've also tried to include some aspects of another request for kissing, and lots of it somehow involving chocolate or ice cream.

Thank you to everyone who has read my stories and has reviewed them with their thoughts. You rock guys.

Syaoran and Sakura are both in their second year of college. It is not necessary, but reading the first fic might be a good idea to follow the time line. It is Time Management.

Disclaimer : I do now own any of the card captor characters... everything else is a product of my overactive imagination.

**Timing is Everything**

One Month after the start of tutoring...

Syaoran kept sneaking glances toward her direction. Sakura was sure of it. She was berating herself because of her reaction to an unconfirmed suspicion. And at the same time she felt exhilarated.

A month before, she had been assigned a tutor by her computer programmer teacher since she'd been having a lot of problems understanding the material. Sakura was taking the class to round out her studies. She knew that she wouldn't be able to pursue any higher level classes since she was truly struggling and barely passing the class, even though she loved technology and its equipments.

Concentrating on her paper, she nibbled her lower lip as she realized that she had no idea as to what this was referring to. Sneaking a glance toward Syaoran's direction, she found him absorbed in the act of writing something down, but not moving the pencil. He seemed to have spaced out.

It would have worried her a bit, if it wasn't for the fact that she knew that he completely understood what she was having trouble over reading. While she was trying to finish one of her assignments for her computer class, he was writing the report that they both had to turn in the next week for their art class.

A coincidence that had turned out to be. They had a class together, in which they could now socialize even further, and participate while getting to know each other better outside of the tutor and apprentice clause. In truth she had first noticed him in a place she frequented before realizing that he was in one of her classes.

"Syaoran," she called his attention. His gaze focused on her, shaking his head as if getting rid of the cobwebs that had lingered just minutes before.

"Yes, Sakura," he responded by setting his pencil down and rolling the chair toward her side of the table. She loved the way her name flowed out of his lips. He possessed a quiet voice, that when spoken to, you could feel as if you were relaxing in a pool of water. The timber of it just drove a shiver down her spine that spun her blood out of control. She was getting used to the sensation, or she would have had a very big problem communicating with the guy.

"I have a problem with this question," she pointed it out as he read it and casually opened the book for the class. While he flipped the pages, she observed him. He truly was a wonderful guy. He was a bit shy around her, and everyone that she had seen him interact with, unless they were someone that he had known for some time.

Eriol was on the secretarial staff and a long time friend of his. They bantered like old friends who knew each other secrets. Those were truly enjoyable times because that was when you could discover the little peeves and workings of Syaoran's mind.

He was careful around everyone except when around his friends. Sakura was sure that she was entering that circle of trust. Although truly what she wanted to do most was kiss him.

Yes, kiss him. That was her secret desire for the moment.

She wanted to know how it would feel like to have her lips come in contact with his. Whenever their hands touched, she felt a current course through her fingers and a tingling that would send her nerve endings into hyper drive. She as sure an explosion of fireworks would burst when they truly came together in contact.

Ok. She was about to become 20 years old. She was old enough to take charge of her actions and take control of a situation. Now if it wasn't for the fact that she was truly a coward when it came to this type of situation, then she might actually get somewhere with these opportunities. He would be a risk that she didn't want to take but was sure to be worth it.

Syaoran was becoming one of her friends at a quick pace. If there was some misunderstanding, or if she was reading in the wrong signs, then it all might come to an end.

Still, it might be worth the risk. She brought her mind back to him and continued her observation in silence. She could just stare at him forever, just taking in his features.

"Sakura," her name brought her back from her musings. His face was a few centimeters away from hers. His hand by her face, as if he had tried to break her out of her reverie for some time by moving it before her eyes.

"Sorry," she apologized while a pink shade developed around her cheeks. She hated it when he found her staring. He seemed so oblivious some times that she wanted to shake him, and then thoroughly kiss him for good measure. Wait, she did that when she spaced out all the time. Those were her current everyday fantasies.

"Here," he pushed the book toward my arms as his face turned downwards toward the page. His finger traced one of the lines that I had originally highlighted, but my complete attention was on his hand. They seemed rough to me, bony and strong. The fingers seemed square in size and small patches of hair lightly covered the base. His fingernails were short and sharply cut. They were just maintained in good condition while not really sparing any special treatment like some of the guys she knew.

That clearly accentuated the differences in between her and him. He seemed so masculine, and what a man should be in rough lines and quiet attitude while clearly paying attention. It was no wonder she was falling deeply into this guy.

She wanted to take his hand into hers and place it around her naked waist. She wanted to see what the feelings of his touch, from his callused fingers, would be elicited.

She needed to find out how it would work out if they got together before she snapped on one of these sessions and simply attacked him. Looking into his profile, she could not believe that he would not be reading her signals straight. He had to be completely oblivious to not really see what she was showing to everyone that could see them interacting. Or maybe he was completely disinterested in her.

That was a bummer and would explain so much.

With that thought, her shoulders dropped and her facial expression changed. She hadn't really thought of it like that before, but what if he was really not interested in her and she was just imagining those little side glances.

Maybe he was pining away for another girl, or had an extremely secret long distance relationship with said girl. Maybe she was just not his type. There were a lot of maybes that could explain the obliviousness he seemed to possess toward her presence and signals.

So she wasn't a big flirter. She got enough attention from the opposite sex without having to do all of the work herself. Still, she was sure she was sending the right signals. It just totally looked like he wasn't even aware of them.

"Is something wrong?" He asked as he saw her physical transformation. "Sakura," he tried to get her attention again, but she seemed to be in la-la land once again.

He tried to think of what he was trying to explain. It didn't seem so difficult to understand, but maybe since he was majoring on this, he was not explaining it as well to someone who truly had no idea of what he was talking about. Or maybe she was just thinking about something else. Like her plans for the weekend or some guy. Someone that wasn't him.

Oh, god, he could believe that she had plans. She was an extremely attractive girl, who was friendly to one and all. All guys flocked to her like bees to honey when she appeared and all of the women on campus she met became instant friends with her. She surely had an abundant social life.

"Is this truly giving you this much trouble?" He asked mostly to himself, while trying to get his thoughts out of the pit of despair of her dating some jock or joker that wouldn't truly treat her right. He was sure that if given the chance, that he could treat her right.

"No," she answered as her eyes looked out towards the window and the trees that were currently loosing their leaves as the autumn wind beat against them. The picture truly depicted the thoughts that were running through her mind.

"Then what is the...," he trailed off as she looked toward his direction. Her eyes were glistening and her expression was almost of despair. His thoughts were wiped from his brain as he gazed into her green eyes. Those light colored emeralds were twinkling to the light. They were mesmerizing him, completely capturing his attention.

"I," his voiced sounded constrained. His hand lifted toward her cheek, but stopped a millimeter from approaching contact. He gulped down the huge lump that had formed in his throat. He couldn't get it to go down easily.

Sakura tried to smile, her lips moving toward their goal, while her eyes still maintained full contact with his. Blinking slowly, she leaned forward, his fingers finally coming in contact with her skin. She had walked just a bit toward what she wanted. Just a little step at a time.

She saw his mouth open as if to speak, but no sound escaped it. His lips were slightly parted, his eyes were getting cloudy and harder to concentrate on.

And then she found herself thrown over his lap, one arm around her waist and the other touching her neck, while he placed his lips on hers.

It was everything she had ever imagined.

Not wasting the opportunity, she took over the assault and nibbled his lower lip. The tiny bites opened his lips, were his tongue leashed out and yanked the control of the kiss back from her.

His taste was intoxicating. She felt as if drowning in his essence and taste.

She felt his exploration all the way to her abdomen. A small but present sensation was building on her lower abdomen. She had never felt so needy of physical contact before in her life.

"Sakura," his breath seemed pleading, as their lips disengaged their battle, but his lips fell onto her collarbone where he left butterfly kisses until he grazed her ear with a playful bite of his own. His breathing seemed harsh and fast. Her hands were placed against his chest, currently grabbing the t-shirt material that covered his body.

She brushed her cheek against his, finding the scrapping sensation sensual in its own right. She had found out in the time that they had spent together, that when he forgot to shave in the morning, that his stubble was a bit pronounced by the time that they started their sessions.

"Tell me this is not a mistake," his voice still seemed raw, but his heart beat had slowed to normal readings. "I just didn't make a fool of myself, did I?"

He was facing her again. His cheeks still held the tint of the shared warmth of a few minutes before, but his expression was serious. He had taken a huge risk in plunging into the situation headfirst like that.

"No," she responded, she placed a kiss on his lips before slipping out of his lap toward her abandoned chair. "This answers a lot of questions and creates others that need to be answered."

He seemed satisfied with her response for now. He grasped the book once again from the desk where it had been discarded and proceeded to explain it all again from the top.

They both seemed a bit calmer now than when they had started.

"Are you doing anything this Saturday?" He asked her suddenly. His blush was back, although he was smiling like a happy fool it seemed.

"No," she breathlessly replied. She was ready to see where this could go. "What do you have in mind?"

"We could see a movie that's premiering this weekend, and then later finish this project of yours on my computer in my apartment." He seemed flustered at the end as he mentioned his apartment. "I have the program necessary to finish instead of using one of the computers from the LAB since its closed in the weekend. I'm sure it'll be easier to finish the project in the weekend instead of having to rush it in to turn in on Monday."

His rambling made her laugh for some reason. "Ok." She answered while writing down the answer to her earlier problem.

It seemed that things were actually going somewhere after all.

* * *

Eriol looked up from the screen of his computer as he heard the door to one of the conference rooms open. He waited patiently as Sakura passed the desk, with a radiant smile on her face. Something must have happened to have lifted her spirits in such a short amount of time.

He waited to see if Syaoran would leave as well, as he usually did, but a few minutes later he still hadn't passed. That was an unusual occurrence. Syaoran had a class following behind this impromptu session that Sakura had requested.

Minimizing his work, he stood from the chair and walked to see what had kept his friend.

"Are you alright?" He asked as he pushed the door open to find his friend staring numbly out of the window. He seemed enthralled by the scenery.

"Yeah," he turned toward his friend, not able to keep his smile from his face.

"Well, what happened?" Eriol's curiosity had been aroused. "Did you ask her out?" Taking the smile as an affirmation to his question. "Finally. Maybe now you'll stop moping around like a fourteen year old."

Syaoran went toward his book bag to get going toward his next class.

"Yeah," he continued to grin as he remembered the peck on his lips that she had placed just a few minutes before as she left. "I think I'm a goner where she is concerned." He waved toward Eriol who was already buried in his work at the desk and walked outside to the autumn weather.

* * *

"Oh, come on, spill." Tomoyo glared at her long time friend. "You are definitely happier than you were yesterday. So, what happened?"

"He kissed me," a blush accompanied the blurted statement that managed to stop the fire of questions she had been receiving for the last minutes.

"Kawaii!!" Tomoyo squealed as she sipped the hot chocolate that was currently keeping her hands warm. "And how was it?" She was terribly interested in this. Sakura had been moaning about this terribly good looking guy for the last months. Her friend had suddenly become shy when dealing with the opposite sex.

"Wonderful," was her description, although the deepening of the color of the cheeks spoke volumes to what had happened.

Tomoyo was sure that her friend had spaced out once again. Her eyes were glazed over, and her mouth had this insufferable smile of when she knew something that others did not.

"And, what's going to happen?" She asked when she spent several minutes of silent staring toward her friend.

"We're going on a date," Sakura stated before taking one of the freshly baked cookies from the plate in front of them and chewed on it.

Tomoyo started to speak of the usual subject of what to wear and what to do while Sakura turned her inward attention to what had happened at the study session.

She wanted to kiss him again.

Relieving those minutes of pleasure was well worth the time spent getting to know him and doing her computer tutoring. She was completely gone.

She was slowly sinking into his sexy eyes and rough fingers. Nodding periodically toward her friend's chattering, Sakura started to plan her attack.

The mission was going to be to get another mind blowing kiss. And probably other stolen touches along the way.

She was sure that could be arranged.

* * *

* * *

Here's the follow-up on my story, Time Management. I think the chocolate, or ice-cream scene will come on the third and final part of this series of one-shots. Yes, I will write a third part in the near future. It is currently called Managing Time but the title may change.

This revision was posted because I have found out that I've been spelling Syaoran's name wrong, as pointed out by a reviewer, and in lieu of circumstances decided to add some other lines that help tighten the stories in my eyes.

Thank you to all that have reviewed and asked that I write this installment to what I considered a done deal. Keep on reading, everyone...

Review button is right here...

MS


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